JACKSON, MI – Chelsea Siedzik has filled multiple roles in her career, but she found that being “a big kid with the little kids” was her true calling.
Siedzik, 36, is in her first year teaching kindergarten for East Jackson Elementary School. She previously worked for 11 years at the Little Lambs of Jesus Preschool in Albion, serving as both preschool teacher and director of the childcare center.
After some staff restructuring took her out of the classroom at Little Lambs, Siedzik realized how much she missed teaching younger kids, and found a new job with the district where she grew up.
Siedzik graduated from East Jackson High School in 2007 and studied early childhood education at Baker College.
Siedzik spoke with MLive/Jackson Citizen Patriot about the joy she gets from working with her district’s youngest learners, and the importance of learning along with your students.
Jackson Citizen Patriot: Was there a specific moment or experience that inspired you to get into the field of education?
Chelsea Siedzik: I knew ever since I was a child that I wanted to be a teacher. I actually just recently came across a letter that I had wrote to myself in the third grade, and the teacher at the time had us hold on to them until we graduated. I opened it up and saw that in third grade I wrote that – I wrote “my dream is to be a teacher one day.” I never swayed from that, I just always knew that I wanted to be in a classroom with kids.
JCP: Why was teaching in the field you’re in such a calling for you?
Siedzik: I have a really big family, so I’ve always just been around little kids. I even remember as a kid playing school with my dolls and my sisters. I’ve always been drawn to helping the younger age group learn. I think I like about the young ones is that they’re so impressionable. They don’t have a lot of school experience, so I can make it pretty magical and fun for them to want to learn.
JCP: In what ways have you changed or evolved as an educator between now and when you started?
Siedzik: As I’ve gotten older and matured even more, I’ve just seen many different aspects of children and different ways to go around teaching and how to reach them differently and build better relationships with them. I’ve grown and learned right along with them throughout the years. I’ve been in different age settings and administrative roles, and I think being in different roles in general has helped me become a better person, and better teacher and a better learner myself. We’re always learning right along with the kids – they teach us new things often.
JCP: Is there a specific moment from your career that you would consider to be the most rewarding?
Siedzik: One year I was teaching preschool, and I had a little girl whose first language was Polish, and she didn’t speak much English. She was born here in the U.S. but her parents could speak minimal English. It was really hard at first to connect with her – she was very shy and timid due to the culture shock, really. After spending a lot of time with her, she still wouldn’t talk with the kids or anything. About halfway through the year her birthday came around, and my husband’s family is Polish, so they sing the Polish birthday song. When we were in class on her birthday, I sang the Polish birthday song to her and she just lit right up. It was one of those moments where I felt I finally connected with her, and from that moment on she really tried in class. She really tried speaking as much as she could, and she started participating a lot more. That was really rewarding to finally make that connection with her to be able to help her feel comfortable in the classroom.
Probably two years after that, I had another student who came to me straight from Ethiopia, and he didn’t know any English either – none at all. He was completely culture shocked because he wasn’t even born here. He showed up and then four days later he set foot in our school, and he was terrified. He took quite a bit of time to find that relationship with, but we did eventually find it, and by the end of the school year he was up talking in front of the class for show and tell. Situations like that really touch you and let you know you really made an impact on these kids.
JCP: What is your favorite part of your job?
Siedzik: I love being able to be a big kid with the little kids. I like to use a lot of props in my classroom. We like to use puppets and dance and sing with them and just have a good time. School was always magical for me as a kid, and I just hope that I provide that magical sense of school being fun and safe and a place to learn. You can come and do all of it – it’s not just a place to get your education, but to build relationships and have a good time while you’re here.
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